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[November 2007]
Ideal Standard International Announces Leadership Team in Europe, Middle East & Africa
Ideal Standard International has announced its new organisation and leadership team for operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ideal Standard International, an independent and privately-owned company since 1 November, 2007, is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium and employs over 18,000 people across EMEA, Asia Pacific as well as Central and South America.
Ideal Standard International’s EMEA president, John Rietveldt, leads the region employing approximately 13,000 people and comprising 30 production facilities in 27 sites across 11 countries. Ideal Standard International EMEA is Europe’s leading bathroom provider (in terms of annual sales) with strong market presence in the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Egypt and Bulgaria. High potential growth markets include countries in Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, as well as Turkey and the Middle East.
A wide product portfolio is sold under the company’s strong international brands Ideal Standard and Jado, and leading local brands Armitage Shanks, Ceramica Dolomite, Porcher and Vidima. The EMEA commercial organisation has 19 local sales offices and is divided into three sub-regions as follows:
West Europe1 - headed up by Vice President, Roger Cooper;
East Europe 2 - led by Vice President, Vassil Kanev; and
Italy, Egypt, the Middle East and Gulf States currently managed by Vice President, Massimo Bonotti until his retirement at the end of this year.
Incesa, a joint venture operating in Central and South America, reports into the EMEA organisation. Incesa is headed up by regional president, Carlos Araya and is 64% owned by Ideal Standard International with the remaining 36% held by local shareowners.
In its drive to ensure continued long-term competitiveness in providing high quality total bathroom solutions based on design and innovation, Ideal Standard International EMEA is focusing on four main product categories driven by consumer insights, market demands and operational excellence:
- Ceramics led by Vice President Filip Van der Linden;
- Furniture & Accessories led by Vice President Paul Frankish;
- Fittings led by Vice President Jordi Cazorla:
- Bathing & Wellness led by Vice President Lucio Colussi
The EMEA business will further build on its established platform of centralised support functions. Reporting directly to John Rietveldt, many of these functions will also provide guidance to the Asia Pacific region and Incesa arm of Ideal Standard International. Functional excellence areas and leaders are as follows:
- Finance: Philippe Ruzé
- HR: Mark McRae
- Central Operations Strategy: Mark Collings
- Logistics and Planning: Mark Williams
- Strategic Planning: Sidney Vastenhout
- Brand Management: Beate Marzinski
- IT: Michael Luzemann
- Legal: Claudia Crescenzi
- Quality: Robert Schickhoff
Commenting on the new organisation, EMEA President, John Rietveldt, said: “This is a very exciting time for us. We are on the brink of a new era as an independent company. This newly found autonomy enables us to be 100 percent focused on bathroom solutions facilitating our ability to make faster decisions in response to the needs and desires of our customer and end-consumers. With the right leadership team and organisation in place, I believe we are strongly placed to further build on our existing success and number one market position in EMEA. The leadership is committed to the new Ideal Standard International company, its employees and products. Our overriding ethos is to provide great products and solutions to our customers taking the role of the bathroom to a whole new level via new technologies, design and innovations”.
ENDS